This day in Chemical History: Jan 26

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

On this day in the history of chemistry, the first reports of nuclear fission were made in 1939. Fission is the breaking apart of big unstable elements such as certain isotopes of uranium or plutonium into multiple smaller elements.

The Fission Process | MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory

nrl.mit.edu

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Amazing that this was as late as 1939. I just read about "the demon core" the other day:

The 'Demon Core,' The Orb That Was Supposed To Power An Atomic Bomb — But Proved Too Deadly

The 'demon core' wrought so much death at the Los Alamos Laboratory that many believed it was cursed.

allthatsinteresting.com

Jay

 

[JimWelsh]

Amazing that this was as late as 1939. I just read about "the demon core" the other day:

The 'Demon Core,' The Orb That Was Supposed To Power An Atomic Bomb — But Proved Too Deadly

The 'demon core' wrought so much death at the Los Alamos Laboratory that many believed it was cursed.

allthatsinteresting.com

Jay

There are lots of horrifying stories of radioactivity-related accidents. Here are two particularly terrifying ones, each in their own way: The SL-1 Accident (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SL-1#Accident_and_response) and the Cecil Kelley Criticality Accident (https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/00326644.pdf).

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Amazing that this was as late as 1939. I just read about "the demon core" the other day:

The 'Demon Core,' The Orb That Was Supposed To Power An Atomic Bomb — But Proved Too Deadly

The 'demon core' wrought so much death at the Los Alamos Laboratory that many believed it was cursed.

allthatsinteresting.com

Jay

Well, that was one interesting read, never heard of "the demon core" before until just now.